How many books did Leo Tolstoy write?

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian count who was a great literary success. During his extensive career, he penned over 40 different works. The number is hard to nail down for a couple of reasons. One of his books of short stories has over 600 entries in it. Many argue that these have to be considered individual works, as they were not intended to be put into one volume. However, on the surface, he penned 42 novels and collected works.

Tolstoy gained some of the inspiration for his work when he was in the military during the Crimean War. He is best known for his two novels, Anna Karenina, and War and Peace. Tolstoy was a reformer, and he used his writing to increase awareness of the issues that he saw, as well as past issues that, in his mind, he felt could have been changed. He also went through a great religious awakening, which influenced much of his writing. While the number of his books might be debated, the brilliance of the author is not. Leo Tolstoy has claimed one of the seats for one of the greatest influential writers of the 19th century.